1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food products and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to dehydrated, precooked beans and to their methods of preparation.
2. The Prior Art
To prepare raw beans for consumption typically requires extended cooking times. Additionally, when dried raw beans are employed, extended soaking times, e.g., up to 16 hours using ambient temperature soaking water, are required before cooking (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,062 issued Oct. 10, 1944 to H. T. Lannen). Such cooking and/ or precook soaking steps in traditional bean preparation methods are thus time consuming and onerous.
Art attempts at providing food products which do not require such extended and difficult preparation have taken two tacks: (1) provision of precooked, hydrated, canned beans, and (2) precooked, dehydrated beans. An exemplary method for preparing cooked, hydrated canned beans is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,019,141 (issued Oct. 29, 1935 to J. T. Knowles). While precooked, hydrated canned beans do not require extensive preparation, canned beans suffer shipping weight and storage disadvantages vis-a-vis dehydrated beans.
Numerous attempts have been made in the art at providing dehydrated beans which are capable of quick rehydration. Such dehydrated bean products nonetheless suffer from certain disadvantages. First, such dehydrated beans suffer from the "splitting" of the beans during dehydration. As described by Feldberg, Fritzsche, and Wagner in "Preparation and Evaluation of Precooked Dehydrated Bean Products", Food Technology, Nov. 1956, precooked beans normally split wide open upon exposure to a dehydrating environment. This splitting apparently is caused by differential rate of drying between the bean skin and cotyledon. As used herein, the term "splitting" is used to refer to any partial separation of the bean halves. More severe cases of splitting are referred to in the art and herein as "butterflying". In butterflying, the beans are so severely split that the two bean halves are on the same plane rather than facing each other. The visually unattractive butterflying of the beans upon dehydration is, however, reversed upon hydration.
One method for reducing the butterflying in the dehydrated bean is to freeze the beans prior to dehydration as described in "New Continuous Production Facility for Processing `Instant` Precooked Beans", Food Technology (1961), Vol. XV, No. 9, pg. 13-18. However, the blast freezing equipment there described is relatively expensive and the freezing step can adversely affect final product attributes.
Another method for reducing the butterflying is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,290,159 (issued Dec. 6, 1966 to W. R. Dorsey et al.) The 3,290,159 patent discloses a method of bean preparation involving a two step dehydration process. In the 3,290,159 method the precooked beans are slowly reduced in their moisture content to below 40% by weight and thereafter rapidly dried to their final content. Another controlled dehydration method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,068 (issued Sept. 5, 1967 to J. J. Mancuso). The 3,340,068 patent teaches a method wherein cooked legumes are washed with certain water soluble organic hydrophilic agents thereby dehydrating the legumes, removing the extracted water and then finish drying the legumes.
Other methods for producing precooked dry beans without butterflying by sugar treating cooked beans are known such as the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,313 (issued May 5, 1972 to K. H. Steinkraus et al.) This patent teaches a method for preparing precooked dry beans by hydrating the dry beans, precooking the hydrated beans in steam, immersing them in a 20.degree. Brix solution (i.e., 20% by weight sugar) for 5 minutes, and then dehydrating them to realize the dry beans. Similarly, another known method involves presoaking and/or cooking in 20% and above sugar solutions to yield beans resistant to butterflying during subsequent drying.
Another problem associated with dehydrated precooked beans is "hardspotting". "Hardspotting" generally refers to small bean regions which rehydrate comparatively slower than the remainder of the bean. Consumption of beans having unrehydrated bean regions is organoleptically undesirable. Unfortunately, it appears that even those prior art precooked dehydrated bean products which are resistant to butterflying upon dehydration nonetheless exhibit hardspotting upon subsequent rehydration. To overcome hardspotting and to assure complete rehydration, present dehydrated beans must be rehydrated in substantial excess of water at elevated temperatures for upwards of at least 15 minutes in order to insure complete rehydration.
Given the state of the art as described above, there is thus a continuing need for new and useful precooked, dehydrated bean products which are not subject to butterflying and hardspotting. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide visually attractive, precooked and dehydrated bean products capable of rehydration in water in less than 10 minutes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods for the preparation of such precooked, dehydrated bean products.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide precooked, dehydrated bean products adapted to rapidly rehydrate in water without boiling.
It has been surprisingly discovered that the objectives can be realized and superior food products provided by A) cooking beans in low concentration sugar solutions until cooked and hydrated and, thereafter, B) dehydrating the beans to provide the present precooked dehydrated bean products.